Guest Review: The Cornish Guest House (Tremarnock book 2) by Emma Burstall

FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF TREMARNOCK.

A new couple have arrived in Tremarnock, but will these glamorous strangers fit into village life?

Tremarnock is a small fishing village, crowded with holidaymakers in the summer, but a sleepy Cornish backwater at other times of the year.

Here Liz has found refuge with her young daughter, Rosie, after her relationship with Rosie's father came unstuck. Now happily married, all seems set for a quiet autumn and merry Christmas. But strangers have bought the local guest house and seem to have big plans. Why is he so charming and confident, but she so frightened? Are they who they say they are? And what are they really doing with the guest house?

Review: This is book 2 in the Tremarnock series from Emma Burstall. Like the first book in the series, I chose the audio version, my husband and I listening to the story in the course of a few car journeys. Out of the car, we even debated what might be going to happen next with this character or that, surely a sign of a really exciting and enthralling story. If you have not read the first book in this series, Tremarnock, don't worry as this story is self explanatory. However, Tremarnock was a really enjoyable story too, so you could always read that before getting your teeth into this sequel. 

As the title of the book suggests, this story revolves around the Stables Guest House in the Cornish seaside village of Tremarnock, and its new owners. As we revisit this quaint village, we meet all the characters who were introduced in the first book in this series, along with the incomers who have arrived to open up the guest house. Major roles are played again by Liz, her daughter, Rosie, and local restaurant owner, Robert. However, the newcomers Luke, Tabitha and son Oscar are at the centre of a great deal of discussion and controversy amongst the villagers. But is Luke all that he seems and what is the matter with Tabitha? There is an immense amount of mystery and tension surrounding them, which expands to encompass Robert's niece, Loveday also. 

We both really enjoyed this book. Having met most of the characters before in the previous story and catching up with what had happened in the village in the intervening period was good, but not essential to the enjoyment or indeed understanding of the story. Although it is obviously a sequel, this story can easily be read as a standalone. I am greatly looking forward to reading the next book in the Tremarnock series, which is waiting for me on my Kindle. 

Want to read it now? Click the link to order you copy: UK or US

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I Loved During The First Year of This Blog! 12/9/17

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Putting this list together made me very nostalgic. I started this blog in 2012 after reviewing for another blog for a year before that. My favourite authors really haven't changed since then, I've only added more and more to my list. So here are the books I was loving then, and *spoiler alert* I still love them now! It's interesting that I only have one non-fiction on the list, I definitely read a little more widely now in terms on genre! I reviewed a lot of these for the other blog but my reviews are, of course on Goodreads! I have one review on this blog so I've left the link to that one. 

Here's my review!

Here's my review!

How have your tastes changed over the years? 

Have you read any of these too? 

Do you read/review books as soon as they come out or go through an authors back catalogue? 

 

My BookTube Anniversary Giveaway

I have a giveaway going on on my YouTube channel to celebrate me reaching 100 subscribers and reaching 1 whole year of BookTube. 

Today is the last full day to enter because the giveaway ends tomorrow.

So click on the video below and you could win a book of your choice. The giveaway is open internationally and is my way of saying thank you very much for all the support you have shown my channel over the past year!

Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeymoon

A stunning debut. Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

 

Review: This book was very different from what I was expecting. I loved that fact that this book  centres around one character and her view of the world and I really loved that fact that this book was set in Glasgow. It means that instantly the reader can recognise what is going on and can experience everything in the book along with the main character. I thought the writing style made it very easy for us to sympathise with the main character and to see the world through her eyes. 

Eleanor as a character was interesting. I wouldn't say that she was easy to like, but she was definitely easy to sympathise and sometimes empathise with. This meant that the book moved quickly. I still wasn't sure by the end of the book whether I liked her or not. She is very com,plex and yet simple at the same time. She obviously has some social issues as well. The synopsis mentions her drinking and so I expected her to be aware of the drinking but she really wasn't aware that this was an issue, or that anything else in her life was an issue for that matter. 

The relationships that Eleanor builds with other characters is very entertaining. You don't always expect things to go the way they do and neither do Eleanor or the other characters, the book is cleverly written in that sense. Other parts of the book move a little slower and some parts are a little repetitive, but I think that this was a conscious choice on the author's part because Eleanor's life relies on those routines and repetitive tasks. 

I enjoyed reading this book, it was sometimes a little slow for my liking but it did make me laugh in parts and I am glad that I read it. 

To order your copy and see for yourself, just click the link: UK or US

Review: The Break by Marian Keyes

'Myself and Hugh . . . We're taking a break.'
'A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?'

If only. Amy's husband Hugh says he isn't leaving her. He still loves her, he's just taking a break - from their marriage, their children and, most of all, from their life together. Six months to lose himself in south-east Asia. And there is nothing Amy can say or do about it. Yes, it's a mid-life crisis, but let's be clear: a break isn't a break up - yet . . . However, for Amy it's enough to send her - along with her extended family of gossips, misfits and troublemakers - teetering over the edge. For a lot can happen in six-months. When Hugh returns if he returns, will he be the same man she married? And will Amy be the same woman? Because if Hugh is on a break from their marriage, then isn't she?

The Break isn't a story about falling in love but about staying in love. It is Marian Keyes at her funniest, wisest and brilliant best.

Review: Well this book had me in hysterics right from the word go and yet it deals with such a serious topic. I think I had forgotten just how witty Marian Keyes can be, even when dealing with the issue of a marriage coming to an end or not! The way she phrases things, the way her characters react to things, is just so funny and will definitely have you laughing out loud. 

Now the issue of a marriage staying together or not. This really does sound like the kind of issue that would make for heavy reading, and yes the things that Amy goes through over the course of this book are very very real and I really loved that fact that every reaction and her life in every situation whilst she is on her break from Hugh is covered. And yet Amy is just the type of person that deals with things and deals with things in her own way. I think if this issue had been dealt with by another author, this book would have been much darker and  much more 'issues' based. But i loved that fact that Amy was the vehicle for this story, she gets on with her life and deals with her grief in her own way. The book shows Amy at various points before and during her break and we get to count up the days it has been since the announcement. I think that was a great way of structuring it. 

As I mentioned above, Amy is a great character to go on this journey with. She is strong, independent and she has great values, family values and work ethic. Her family are also great to get to know. Marian Keyes always writes great Irish families with slightly bonkers members and they make for great reading. I loved meeting Amy's daughters in this book. They are each so different and unique and I really think they add another layer of depth to the storyline. Hugh also plays a big role in this book even though he isn't always physically present and I think that his growth over the course of the book, has a big hand in Amy's growth and the growth of the girls too. 

My one complaint with this book is that it is a little on the long side. It did take me a while to get through and I kind of regret saving it for a plane journey because I didn't manage to finish it on that journey. I think the length also made me forget some of Amy's friends and family a little too as the book progressed so I was having to try and dredge up relationships as they came and went in the story. Other than that though, this book was an absolute hoot. It deals with the issue of keeping a marriage working, or not working as the case may be. It deals with the issue of what family means to you and it also deals with the issue of self identity. Never does it shove any of these things down your throat though and it is a thoroughly entertaining read. I didn't realise how much I missed Marian Keyes's writing until I picked this book up and fell in love with it all over again!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

Guest Review: The Little Bakery on Rosemary Lane by Ellen Berry

**Take a trip to the Yorkshire village of Burley Bridge, where a new arrival is going to shake things up…**

Growing up in a quiet Yorkshire village, Roxanne couldn’t wait to escape and find her place in the world in London. As a high-powered fashion editor she lives a glamorous life of perennial singlehood – or so it seems to her sister Della. But when Roxanne gets her heart broken by a fashion photographer, she runs away, back to Della’s welcoming home above her bookshop in Burley Bridge.

But Burley Bridge, Roxanne discovers, is even quieter than she remembered. There’s nothing to do, so Roxanne agrees to walk Della’s dog Stanley. It’s on these walks that Roxanne makes a startling discovery: the people who live in Burley Bridge are, well, just people – different from the fashion set she’s used to, but kind and even interesting. Michael, a widower trying to make a go of a small bakery, particularly so. Little by little, cupcake by cupcake, Roxanne and Michael fall into a comforting friendship.

Could there be a life for Roxanne after all, in the place she’s spent 46 years trying to escape?

Review: This book follows on from The Bookshop on Rosemary Lane, which I read with great enjoyment last year. I have been looking forward to reading this sequel ever since, and am delighted that it has appeared at last. Although this is a follow on story, it can be read on its own. Points referring to events happening in the first book are explained as we go along. 

The central character in this story is, in fact, one that we met briefly in the first book about Rosemary Lane. She is Roxanne, sister of Della, who runs the bookshop. Although Roxanne lives and works in London as fashion director of a glossy magazine, she feels that the time has come to visit her sister and take some time away from the hustle and bustle of her busy life and a career that seems to be turning in a direction she doesn't relish. She is also beginning to have doubts about boyfriend Sean. On her return to Burley Bridge, the Yorkshire village where she was brought up, she finds that things are different from how she remembered them, and she soon finds herself relaxing into the much quieter life there. As well as meeting up again with people she knew when growing up, Roxanne gets to know divorcee Michael, who owns and runs the bakery on Rosemary Lane along with his teenage children.

I have enjoyed reading this book just as much as I did the first one. I always enjoy reading stories containing characters I have met before and find out what is happening with them. There are some lovely new characters in this story as well. I particularly enjoyed reading about Roxanne's elderly neighbour in London, Isabelle, who had obviously led a really interesting life; I would really like to hear more about her. Some of the other characters from Roxanne's life in London are not quite so likeable, living strange, almost false lives. The contrast between the two locations in the story is marked; the author makes the little village of Burley Bridge sound so appealing that I would love to visit. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read to curl up with. 

To order your copy now, just click here! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I've Decided Not To Review Recently 5/9/17

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists over there at The Broke and the Bookish. I'd love to share my lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

I've done a couple of posts recently on books that I've decided not to review. This might be because I didn't manage to finish them or because I did finish them but they just didn't do it for me and I didn't want to write a negative review. I understand that we all have different tastes in books and so I know that other people have liked/will love these books and so that's why I decided to highlight them in this way. 

Here are some I may or may not have mentioned. I will let you know whether I finished them or not!

The first five are mentioned in this post where you can read exactly why I chose not to review them.

And here is the post that explains why I chose not to read the next 5. 

Have you read any of these? What did you think of them?